HRI 2018 - Day 5

​Contributor: Colleen Gabrimassihi

I’ve had many days where I’ve wished I could run away - not from the people or my life or the issues I face - but from the routine that we all create from ourselves. I’ve always craved and been curious of how the opposite of my day to day life would make me feel, living in a small town; the neighbors your family, the cashier your cousin, the person driving by your uncle. 

I truly believe that you can change your life’s, routine, and how you feel in a moments notice - if that is where your heart truly lives. But I know that is a paralyzing idea to any sane person, to leave everything and everyone behind to go on your own true journey. 

Living in Los Angeles my whole life this suffocating curiosity led me to find my love of travel; to even for a moment, experience life through a foreign perspective. Following my heart, I knew I wanted to return to my homeland and take out the weeds and plant new roots of my beliefs, perspective, and priorities. 

From the moment I stepped out of the bus as we arrived in Shivanidzor, I knew every belief I had was going to change, grow, and strengthen. As volunteers we are here to help the village and teach the children, but every moment we spend we learn more from the way they greet each other and care for neighbors as if they are siblings (which they actually call their brothers and sisters) than anything a class could ever teach. 

The disruption in my routine, and the new perspective this experience gave me  reaffirmed my confidence that I should always follow the little voice in my head that tells me to chase my curiosity and the unknown.